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Double Fine has launched crowdfunding campaign to fund Psychonauts 2

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The story-driven 3D platformer could get a most excellent sequel, as Double Fine has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Fig to secure the funds needed to revisit one of their most beloved franchises. Back on the team is most of the old gang, including composer Peter McConnell, writer Erik Wolpaw, and the voices of Raz and Lili, Richard Horvitz and Nicki Rapp.

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As a big fan of Psychonauts and a volunteer community moderator on the Double Fine forums, I have been excited about the prospect of a crowdfunded sequel ever since Fig opened the doors for both backers and accredited investors with the Outer Wilds campaign in August. Since then, Fig's lawyers have been busy cutting through red tape to make sure that anyone can invest in this game (via Polygon).

The campaign has been live for less than a day, but is already closing in on the first million of its $3.3 million goal. Where the previous two Fig campaigns experienced more modest interest from regular backers, the opposite is true for this campaign, and is likely what Fig needed to get their platform off the ground. In addition to the money raised from the campaign, a portion of the estimated $10 million plus budget will come from Double Fine and an external, undisclosed partner.

Like with Broken Age and MASSIVE CHALICE, 2 Player Production will be documenting the development of Psychonauts 2, and the resulting videos will be made freely available on YouTube for anyone to watch. Backers will also be able to pledge for rewards like the game on GOG or Steam, physical copies (including a Linux version), an art book, a functional replica of Raz' backpack from the game and more.

For more information about the campaign, see Psychonauts 2 on Fig. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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About the author -
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A big fan of platformers, puzzle games, point-and-click adventures and niche indie games.

I run the Hidden Linux Gems group on Steam, where we highlight good indie games for Linux that we feel deserve more attention.
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36 comments
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Samsai Dec 4, 2015
Here's a game they totally won't go over the budget with and they won't ship it in multiple bits and most definitely won't go through Early Access and leave it in incomplete state for eternity.
hummer010 Dec 4, 2015
Yeah ... after Broken Age and Spacebase, they absolutely won't be getting my money upfront.
tuubi Dec 4, 2015
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They wouldn't dare do that to Psychonauts, would they? :'(

No backing from me (as if they need it), but I'm sure it'll end up in my library at some point. The first one is an excellent game, no two ways about it.
flesk Dec 4, 2015
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I can understand people being disappointed about Spacebase, but I don't understand why so many people are still sore about Broken Age. Yes, it went over the initial budget, but so do 90% of every game that's being developed on a set budget. I've backed 100+ games on Kickstarter now, have been following the development of a bunch more, and delays happen all the time. You usually just don't know about it, since most games are in development for years before you even hear about them.

By the way, it's funny how people conveniently forget about Massive Chalice, when it was ON time and ON budget.
Keyrock Dec 4, 2015
Given the Broken Age and Spacebase DF-9 fiascoes (it wasn't just that Broken Age was super late and overbudget, it was also bitterly disappointing), I wouldn't give Tim Schafer any money up front even if he put a gun to my head. I'll be interested in the final product, provided it turns out well, however, since I loved Psychonauts.


Last edited by Keyrock on 4 December 2015 at 4:18 pm UTC
Mountain Man Dec 4, 2015
Nice to see people finally wising up to the Kickstarter and "early access" scam.
Half-Shot Dec 4, 2015
Too many risks here.

* DF9 was a complete and total disaster. Any other company would have been murdered by it.
* I've not played Broken Age, but taking into account the budgeting issues (No, when your asking for money you PLAN IT WELL). And I've heard the much awaited Act 2 was a shadow of Act 1, so yeah. Not a positive.
* Personally, I've not enjoyed a double fine game since their first and even if it is Psychonauts, the risks are too great.

At this point, they should seek out a publisher because they need the support so they DON'T go overbudget again.
DrMcCoy Dec 4, 2015
Quoting: Half-ShotNo, when your asking for money you PLAN IT WELL

They did. They planned a tiny game, and a documentary around it. Then suddenly, they got tenfold the money they asked for, and the plan went POUF. There's only so much polishing you can do to that tiny planned game, and the backers clearly expected more at that point.

If you have seen the documentary they produced, the planning and budgeting of the $3.3m project then was relatively well done.

Quoting: Half-Shotthey should seek out a publisher because they need the support so they DON'T go overbudget again.

If you look at their crowdfunding now, you will see that they have done exactly that. The $3.3m million they ask for is only a part. Another part will come from their own company, a part from outside investors. And a part from the Fig investors, i.e. people who pledge more than $1000500, who will then get a part of the profit as a return on their investment. This last part, that's where Fig is different from Kickstarter.

The completele budget for Psychonauts 2 is $13.5m.


Last edited by DrMcCoy on 4 December 2015 at 4:41 pm UTC
Half-Shot Dec 4, 2015
Quoting: DrMcCoy
Quoting: Half-ShotNo, when your asking for money you PLAN IT WELL

They did. They planned a tiny game, and a documentary around it. Then suddenly, they got tenfold the money they asked for, and the plan went POUF. There's only so much polishing you can do to that tiny planned game, and the backers clearly expected more at that point.

If you have seen the documentary they produced, the planning and budgeting of the $3.3m project then was relatively well done.

That's not the fault of the backers though. Stick to the plan. If you get tenfold of the money, don't then do something crazy which you have no plan for. If the difference was really that great, they needed to completely scrap the original project and rethink a new plan. Clearly this new plan wasn't as well thought out.

Quoting: DrMcCoy
Quoting: Half-Shotthey should seek out a publisher because they need the support so they DON'T go overbudget again.

If you look at their crowdfunding now, you will see that they have done exactly that. The $3.3m million they ask for is only a part. Another part will come from their own company, a part from outside investors. And a part from the Fig investors, i.e. people who pledge more than $1000, who will then get a part of the profit as a return on their investment. This last part, that's where Fig is different from Kickstarter.

The complete budget for Psychonauts 2 is $13.5m.

And it confuses me. Why do they need $3.3m from backers if they managed to get the huge bulk from publishers. I'm presuming it's so that they can still claim to be independent but I can only see this getting conflicted. It's not clear how much involvement the majority holders of the game will have.

It also still doesn't solve the issue that Double Fine need an independent entity to stop them from spending because I (and I am not alone on this) still don't trust them yet to do that properly.
hummer010 Dec 4, 2015
Quoting: fleskI can understand people being disappointed about Spacebase, but I don't understand why so many people are still sore about Broken Age. Yes, it went over the initial budget, but so do 90% of every game that's being developed on a set budget. I've backed 100+ games on Kickstarter now, have been following the development of a bunch more, and delays happen all the time. You usually just don't know about it, since most games are in development for years before you even hear about them.

By the way, it's funny how people conveniently forget about Massive Chalice, when it was ON time and ON budget.

What's to be sore about with Broken Age? Let's see, they received 8X the funding they were looking for, and with all that extra money, managed to release the end of the game only 30 months late.

I'm not forgetting Massive Chalice. I'm remembering that Double Fine is 1 for 3 when it comes to kickstarter / early access games.

I don't like them odds.
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